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Thursday, 2 October 2014

Since my maid left two years ago my life has been in agony. Owh... that's too much of me saying such thing, right? Anyway, having to juggle between active growing up kids, a newborn baby and at the same time working from home, I was devastated. I am in a dire need of a reliable helper.

After months of doing everything by myself, I succumb to the situation. With my husband's permission I hired a weekly cleaner. Actually the cleaners came every fortnightly because I have difficulty arranging them to come on monthly basis plus I was on a shoestring budget. Then when I could no longer cope up I get them to come three times a month... then on weekly basis.

However, there's one BIG problem. I want them to come at the time convenient to me and sometimes they can't make it. And there's another issue. The floor requires moping everyday and I don't have the time to do everything by myself. Especially the sweeping and the moping.

There was a time when the cleaner or the weekly maid as they are called came, they did not do a proper job, ruined my vacum cleaner (the ladies being too rough) and broke my mugs (not one or two!). There are cleaners who really do a good job but I can't have them all the time. If I am lucky, they would be assigned to me.

I... can't stand seeing sticky and dirty floor and yet I can't afford to do it myself.
Sigh....

Then I began toying with this idea...of having a gadget for my home. After a series of searching and thinking I decided to get a robot that can do what I can't do. Reluctantly my dear husband agreed :D. After a series of nagging of course.

Tada... my new helper who does not complain...

First try... My Deebot had to work on two shifts to collect all dust on the first day.

This was from the entire 3-bedroom apartment on the first day.

You see... I put a piece of tissue in the dust container so that I do not have to clean the container every time I empty it. It's a very good tip that the sales person gave us.

Dust collected from my son's room alone on the first day.

A lot of friends asked me how my new 'helper' is performing.

MY VERDICT:

Overall... I think it DOES help me to ease my burden. At least the house, ie the floor now is eye pleasing. And my baby can roam freely and I do not have to worry about the hair, dirt and dust on the floor. At least while I am holding or playing with my baby the robot is vacuuming the floor. Better still, I can just leave it to do its job while I am asleep or if I am going out.

Of course, being a robot it has shortcomings. Not 100% of the debris is sucked. I noticed Deebot tend to miss certain spots but this is maybe due to the time constraints that I myself impose on it. I do not have the patience to wait for the full cycle. However, if you have the luxury of time, just let Deebot to do its job with some monitoring if you must. I have to remind you to beware of certain things:

a) Make sure you put away all things that may get entangled into the robot such as socks and wires (Hp chargers etc) because Deebot will suck everything along its way. Remember, it does not have hands to move things by itself so you have do it by yourself.

b) Make sure the floor is dry because if it is wet, chances are the floor might get dirtier when Deebot is vacuuming. This gadget does not come with mopping capabilities so it will not suck any liquid.

After a month of testing this gadget on daily basis, I noticed that :

i) Just like human being who is new to a new job, Deebot finally managed to adjust and adapt to its surrounding :). I have been observing. During the first week, Deebot sort of 'pening' when it went under a chair or when it was going through furniture. After a month, I realised that it could maneuvre under the chairs and came out by itself easily.

ii) Always ensure that it is charged at its 'home' so that it is ever ready for you to use as and when you need. The good point is, it uses little energy. So you need not worry about your electricity shooting up.

Priced at about RM2400 (I got it at RM1800 at a Renovation Expo in KL), I reckon it is worthwhile. It will break even between 7-10 months assuming you engage a monthly cleaner of RM60 for two-hour per session (KL rate). To me, this gadget is very useful for a house that requires sweeping and mopping on daily basis and it is much cleaner than sweeping and mopping.

Friday, 12 September 2014

I tried this cleanser a few months ago after my satisfaction with Lancome scrub from the same range. However, this cleanser is a disappointment. Unlike the scrub which smells nice and works well, I do not like the cleanser's smell. I do not like my skincare with strong smell, hence any strong smell turns me off.

This cleanser to me performs average vis-a-vis its price. After washing, my skin feels like it has been washed with cheap cleanser or over the shelf cleanser - you know, the 'rubbery' feeling on the skin and I don't feel that my skin is really clean. For about RM175 per a tube of 120 ml (I think that is the price) I would not repurchase because I think I could find something better. Luckily I tried the sample.

I must say it is an excellent cleanser giving the results and price. Almost similar to my favourite sk2 cleanser, and it is cheaper. It has a very light smell which I can tolerate. It leaves the skin thoroughly cleansed and moisturised.

First let me tell you about my experience with gastric. I started to have gastric after I gave birth to my eldest son. Then it became worst until the normal black charcoal no longer working on me. The doctor prescribed me a stronger medicine which was supposed to be good. Yes it was much better and good but what good is it to rely on medicine my entire life? Then I recalled about honey that's being mentioned in the Quran (surah al Naml. Without any hesitation I tried. A spoon a day every morning or at night if I skipped it in the morning. I took it for only 3-4 days then my gastric atotally gone and didn't came back for many many years. If it did, I just take a table spoon of honey and InsyaAllah it will be gone in a matter of a day.

I did tell you that I love to shop whenever I travel especially local produce. Here... some honey (that are still around) that I bought during my last trip to New Zealand. I would suggest Manuka Honey with UMF 15 an above because it taste better and works faster. The one in the tall bottle is local honey that i bought from the orang asli on my way from Cameron Highlands while the shorter bottle is commercial local honey.

If you have children suffering from asthma, I would suggest you give them honey everyday and night. Trust me, it works. And also for kids who are prone to flu and cough. Try it yourself and you will cut your trip to the doctor or maybe you don't have to see doctors at all.